Straight role for a change

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After more than 20 years, Sandman is getting a night off, writes Clare Kermond.

It's not an invitation that makes you do the Toyota leap; meet the Sandman, a comic character whose trademarks are morose monologues and long, depressed silences. Lunch? Why not - I guess I'll have plenty of time to eat.

But fears about a dull date evaporate quickly when I meet the man behind Sandman. Comedian Steve Abbott is friendly, funny and happy to chat. While his best-known comic creation is permanently depressed, Abbott admits to "a pretty normal life"; he is happily married, has a teenage son and lives near his mother, Evelyn, well known to those who saw Abbott in Sandman in Siberia.

"They say most comedians are the sad face behind the clown but it's the other way for me, I'm actually quite happy and gregarious. The sad clown is the guy out the front, the happy-go-lucky cuddly teddy bear is kind of me," he says.

Indications that Abbott does not share the flat aspect of his alter ego comes early in our meeting. Abbott's wife is actor Angela Moore, a Play School presenter with a smile like Luna Park. How could you be depressed sharing your life with someone so great at being cheerful?

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Abbott and Moore met during their days in the Castanet Club, a successful Sydney-based troupe that performed around Australia in the 1980s; it was the comedy nursery school for success stories such as Glen Butcher and Mikey Robins. Abbott discovered comedy while studying drama at Newcastle University. He quickly shelved ambitions to be a straight actor when he found he wasn't very good at it.

The Sandman was born during a performance of educational theatre in the early '80s when Abbott was casting around for the best way to play another slow, quiet animal. "I was playing Frank, the tortoise. I discovered there that moroseness and deadpan and that funny voice were funny for me."

The Sandman got a national audience when Abbott joined Triple J radio, where the team included Paul McDermott and Robins.

As well as a much bigger audience and the discipline of writing every day, it was at Triple J that Sandy met Flacco, and a bizarre comic double act was born.

Abbott and Flacco's alter ego, Paul Livingston, became close collaborators and still work together. When Livingston moved to television, to be on Good News Week, Abbott followed, despite his reservations: "I'm just a follower of more confident people."

On television, the audience suddenly had a face to put to that impossibly gloomy voice. Abbott says the noise was like a tennis crowd after a double fault. "You could almost hear the sound of disappointment, of 'Oh, you're Sandman.' I wasn't what they were expecting."

So where did Sandman come from? Is there a model for the dour, depressed act, and are they getting help? While there is a little of himself in Sandman, Abbott believes it's only a little bit.

"If I'd followed every lesson my mother ever told me, then you'd end up with Sandman. He's an only child, a man-child, a 48-year-old man who's about 17 emotionally; I'd like to think I'm a little older emotionally. I'm more gregarious and I speak faster, I'm not quite as self-obsessed," Abbott says.

The pressures of being an only child played a big part in Abbott's life and, allowed to rage unchecked, the same pressures created the Sandman.

"As an only child, you are bred to be special and when you find out you're not special you have to work out a way to convince yourself that you are - that's the essence of Sandman."

After more than 20 years as the Sandman, for the first time, Abbott will appear on television as himself. He will be the frontman for SBS's first attempt at a tonight show format, a mainly live show with interviews, music, some regular segments and a live audience.

In Siberia Tonight - a play on the old In Melbourne Tonight - is a leap into the unknown for Abbott.

The idea first came up at a celebration lunch for the success of Sandman in Siberia, Abbott's documentary about tracing his extended family in Russia. Ted Robinson, a former collaborator and producer on Good News Week, pitched the idea.

"I blanched at the idea completely. I thought, 'I can't do that.' I'd never thought of myself as a host . . . But Ted convinced me that these were good things to bring to a tonight show, and over time and mindful of the need for a job, I thought why not, could be exciting," Abbott says.

There was one interesting condition. Robinson's idea for a show was based on Abbott performing as Abbott - Sandy stays at home. Despite his early shock, Abbott says he agrees with the decision. Staying in character throughout the show would bedifficult and limiting.

In the SBS series, Abbott will reveal some of his eclectic interests. There will be an occasional spot on birdwatching and his wish-list of interviewees includes Paul Keating and Elvis Costello. The live music will be drawn from across the spectrum, including Polynesian, jazz and country and western. His mother will present a regular cooking segment.

Unlike the Sandman, Abbott is cheerfully optimistic about the series: "I'm not that ambitious any more . . . if I'm a concierge next year, so be it."